FACT SHEET
THE MILITARY BAN AND LESBIAN-BAITING
* During recent debates, the military ban on gay
people has often been defended on the basis of
hypothesized harm to heterosexual servicemembers
resulting from a change in the status quo. Rarely has the
actual harm done to all military women by the ban been
considered.
* One such harm is lesbian-baiting, the practice of
pressuring women for sex and sexually harassing women
by using the threat of calling them lesbians as a means of
intimidation. The military ban cultivates and justifies this
form of harassment and intimidation of military women
through its ban.
* As documented in a comprehensive piece by
Michelle Benecke and Kirstin Dodge entitled "Lesbian
Baiting as Sexual Harassment: Women in the Military"
(1992), the consequences of lesbian-baiting are severe.
Because the military bars lesbians from service and
criminalizes some homosexual conduct, women who are
alleged to be lesbians face the real possibility of not only
having their professional reputations tarnished but also of
losing their careers and even their liberty.
* The threat of being called a lesbian, and the
professional consequences of this label, force military
women -- straight, lesbian or bisexual -- to remain silent
when they are sexually harassed, to modify the way they
dress, speak and act, and to refrain from building too
strong or obvious bonds with one another.
* The ban has been used to justify mass investigations
of military women, called "witch hunts." As a standard
interrogation technique, women are forced to name others
who are or who might be lesbians in order to avoid
prosecution or dishonorable discharge.
* Tanya Domi, a former Army Captain, who recently
testified before the House Armed Services Committee,
described a lesbian-baiting incident in which a fellow
officer made a sexually provocative proposition to her in
the presence of a junior officer. When she reported the
harasser, he retaliated by accusing her of being a lesbian.
Domi stated that the irony of lesbian-baiting is that the
victim is investigated, not for her misconduct, but because
of the harasser's.
* Investigations of women are often initiated by
military authorities on the basis of rumors started by male
servicemembers about women who refuse
the servicemen's sexual advances. Servicemen's actions
along these lines are sometimes well-organized. In 1984,
in Stuttgart, Germany, a group of Army enlisted men,
calling themselves the "Dykebusters," systematically made
sexual advances to military women and then reported
those who refused their advances as lesbians. This group
wore special T-shirts with the design "No Dykes" and sang
their version of the theme song from the movie
"Ghostbusters," retitled "Dykebusters," when they would
arrive at the enlisted servicemembers' club to engage in
this harassment of women.
* The 1988 investigation of women on board the USS
Grapple is a less systematic example of this widely-
acknowledged pattern. The USS Grapple investigation
began when a male crew member started rumors about the
close friendship between a woman who rebuffed his sexual
advances and another sailor, Petty Officer Mary Beth
Harrison. The rumors were followed by an incident in
which this male sailor, in front of the ship's crew and at
least one of its officers, shouted profanities and
accusations that the women were lesbians. On a
subsequent deployment, flyers bearing the sign "no dykes"
appeared around the ship.
* A woman who files complaints about such
harassment often finds that her superiors are either
unresponsive or respond by initiating an investigation
against the woman herself to determine if she is a lesbian.
For example, on the USS Grapple, Harrison's superiors
actually advised her not to file a complaint and appeared to
have dropped the matter. Then, some months later,
Harrison and three other senior women were pulled off
the ship, interrogated, and subjected to a protracted
investigation by NIS regarding their sexual orientation.
Harrison ultimately received a general discharge under
honorable conditions, although she never stated nor was
proven to be a lesbian.
* These investigative methods may account for the fact
that women are discharged at a rate far higher than men
for alleged homosexuality. According to the 1992 GAO
report, "DOD's Policy on Homosexuality," women in the Air
Force, Army and Navy are discharged at a rate two to three
times higher than men; for Marine women, the rate is
seven to eight times that of men.
* Not surprisingly, many women opt not to report
lesbian-baiting harassment. Some even accede to the
sexual blackmail rather than inform their chain-of-
command.
* In an effort to counteract assumptions that they are
lesbian, military women often adjust their appearance and
behavior to look "hyperfeminine" and to shun women who
fit the traditional stereotype of a lesbian. Rather than turn
to each other for support in negotiating the stresses of
their daily lives, servicewomen often remain largely
isolated from one another because of the tendency of
women in groups to trigger lesbian-baiting harassment and
investigations. The damage to the unit cohesion and the
consequent emotional isolation for military women,
especially when they are in a small minority on board a
ship or in a nontraditional unit, cannot be understated.
* * * *
Prepared by the Legal/Policy Department of the Campaign
for Military Service. 2707 Massachussetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20009. (202) 265-6666.